Doug Trumm
Doug Trumm is publisher of The Urbanist. An Urbanist writer since 2015, he dreams of pedestrian streets, bus lanes, and a mass-timber building spree to end our housing crisis. He graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2019. He lives in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood and loves to explore the city by foot and by bike.
Neighborhood Street Fund applications are due today (Monday, November 19th), so there's still time to get yours in and potentially win a grant for your street improvement project.
The City's website lists the following guidelines for proposals:
"Any transportation-related improvement in the city’s public right-of-way with an anticipated cost between $100,000...
The suspense is over as Amazon made it official yesterday that its headquarters expansion will be to Arlington, Virginia and to New York City. Twenty cities made Amazon's finalist list, but surprise, surprise the company chose the two cities where CEO Jeff Bezos already own homes.
Some had hoped Amazon...
Ultimately, Washington State Democrats did not pass a bill lowering car tab valuations last session despite Republicans and drive-time conservative radio hosts driving a lot of uproar about it. Some predicted this would spell doom for suburban Democrats. That didn't happen in the midterms. Instead, Democrats were on the...
Let's start with the bad news. Initiative 1631 did not pass and Washington state will not have a fee on carbon pollution to invest a billion dollars per year in clean energy. Other progressive-minded ballot initiatives had a solid night though. I-940 (a police accountability measure) passed easily with...
Well it's Election Day and polls close at 8pm. Find your nearest ballot box here or drop it in the mail box in time to get postmarked today. No postage necessary this year. There's no rule against procrastination. Get that ballot in.
Here how The Urbanist Election Board landed in our...
We have an enormous opportunity. Washington state could do something really meaningful to address climate change by passing a ballot initiative pricing carbon. I-1631 has united a broad coalition around a carbon pollution fee that then funds the green economy.
On October 10th, supporters are gathering at Optimism Brewing in...
Remember how the federal government has a four trillion dollar annual budget, but somehow has only peanuts left over for low-income housing? The US government spends more subsidizing the mansions of the rich via the mortgage interest tax deduction than it spends on low-income housing.
That could all change if...
This spring, California toyed with passing SB 827, an ambitious zoning preemption bill authored by State Senator Scott Wiener that would have allowed five-story apartment buildings within walking distance of high-frequency mass transit stops. Many Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations and a good number of LA Metro stops...